Fastener and fastener secured installation



March 24, 1936.

FASTENER AND FA c. l.. HALL 1 2,035,429 STENER' SECURED r:msTALLA'I'IONFiled' June 1, 1954 mu e Patented' Mar. 24, 1936 PATENT OFFICE FASTENEEAND FASTENER SECURED INSTALLATION Hall, Detroit Mich.,

assignor to United-Carr Fastener Corporation, Cambridge,

Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application June l, 1934, SerialNo. 728,533 `s claims. (cl. 40-20) My invention aims to provideimprovements in fastener secured installations and fasteners for thesame.

In the drawing which illustrates apreferred f, embodiment of myinventicn:

Figure 1 is an elevation view of a complete assembly including theelements of my invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged section taken on the.line 2 2 of Fig. 1 showing the fastener in locked position;

Fig. 3 is a section of the parts as shown in Fig. 2 but showing thefastener in unlocked position; Fig. 4 is an enlarged section taken onthe line 4 4 of Fig. 1, Fig. 5 is a plan view of the fastener per se;Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the fastener per se; and

Figs. 5 and 6. Y

My invention as illustrated by the annexed drawing relates particularly,though not exclusively, to a fastener secured installation whereby nameplate devices and the like are easily and quickly attached to arelatively thin supporting g5 structure by means of a novel fastener.

Referring first to the fastener per se, as illustrated in Figs. 5, 6,and'l, I have shown a simple device formed from a single piece of sheetmetal. The sheet metal strip is preferably folded at the a0 mid portionand portions brought into side-byside contacting relationship to providea folded attaching portion I having edge shoulders 2 the purposes. ofwhich willibe more fully hereinafter described. The end portions of thestrip are bent so as to extend away from each other to provide arms 3 3at right' angles to the folded portion I, as clearly illustrated in Fig.6. The arms 3 3 are preferably spaced from the shoulders 2 and thematerial between'the arms and the shoulders l0 is relatively narrow toprovide a neck 4 which may be readily twisted so that that portion ofthe folded portion I between the 'shoulders 2 and the connected end maybe turned to underlie the arms 3 3, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4.

L5 The particular parts selected for illustration of the use of myimproved fastener include aname plate structure which is adapted to besecured to a thin sheet metal part. It should be understood,

however, that other parts may be secured to-` 0 gether by my improvedfastener. The name plate structure includes a sheet metal hollow ca'singpart 5, a fastener-holding piece 6 and a filler member 1, all of whichare clearly illustrated in Figs. 2 and 4.

5 provided with an aperture 8 and the ller mem- Fig. 7 is an end view ofthe fastener shown in The fastener-holding piece 6 is ber 'I is providedwith any aperture 9 so that the fastener may be assembled with thecasing and held in position by the parts 6 and 7, as shown i in Figs. 3and 4. Assembly of the parts of the plate unit is a relatively simplematter and may 5 be leected by rst placing the ller piece into thehollow casing 5 and then placing the fastener member in position withthe arms 3 3 entered finto the aperture 9 in the filler member 1. Thisaperture 9 is about the same shape as the shape 10 provided by both ofthe arms 3 3. The aperture may be a little longer (Fig. 1) to permitslight adjustment of the fastener. Thereafter the fastener-holding pieceIi is inserted into the casing' and finallyl the edges. of the'casing 5l5 are crimped over the fastener-holding piece 6 thereby securing all ofthe parts together, as shown in Fig. 3. It will be noted (Fig. 4) thatthe aperture 8 in the fastener-holding piece 6 is of rsuch dimensions asto permit passage of the 20 -folded portion I of the fastener whilebeing smaller than the aperture 9 in the filler member 'I so that thearms may engage the fastenerholding piece 6. Thus the fastener is heldin a predetermined position by a'combination of the 25 parts 6 and 'I.

The name plate assembly illustrated is secured to a thin sheet metalpart I0, such for instance as the instrument panel of a motor vehicle byentering the folded portion I of the fastener` 30 through a slot II(Fig..4) which is about the size and shape of the folded portion I, asbest illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4. Thereafter that portion of the foldedportion I which lies between the shoulders 2 and the connected end ofthe folded 35 portion I is twisted 90 so that it is crosswise of theslot I I and brings the shoulders 2 into contact with the material ofthe part I0, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 4. 'I'hus it is a simplematter to assemble the parts of my improved installation, 40 because itis merely necessary to twist the neck portion 4 of the fastener to turnthe shoulders 2 into locking position. If at any time it is necessaryAto remove the name plate or other device,

the folded portion may be turned into alignment with the slot II byreversingA the twisting operation. Furthermore, two or more fastenersmay be assembled with any part which is to be secured to a supportingstructure.

While I have illustrated and described apreferrcd embodiment of myinvention, I do not wish to be limited thereby, because the scope of myinvention is bestdeflned by the following claims:

I claim:

1. An installation of the class described comprising, in combination, besecured together, and curingsaid parts together, ing an elongatedaperture in the form of a slot, another part having a slot in alignmentwith the slot in said rst mentioned part, and said fastener memberhaving a folded portion passing through both slots, a. pair ofoppositely extending arms engaging the second mentioned part vand saidfolded portion having shoulders thereon and being twisted to engage saidshoulders with the ilrst mentioned part whereby said shoulders and saidarms cooperate to hold the parts together.

2. An installation of the class described comprising, in combination, aname plate and like assembly having a casing part, a fastener-holdingpiece assembled with said casing part and having a slot therethrough, afastener member having oppositely extending arms assembled between saidfastener-holding piece and said casing part, a-folded portion connectingsaid arms and extending through said slot, a supporting member to whicha plurality of parts to a fastener member seone of said parts havsaidname plateassembly is attached, said supporting member having a slottherethrough and said folded portion of the fastener having shouldersspaced from said arms, said folded portion passing through the slot insaid supporting membei' and being twisted between the shoulders and armswhereby said shoulders are engaged with said supporting member to holdthe name plate securely in position.

3. A name plate and like assembly including a casing part, afastener-holding piece assemb ed with said casing part, a fastenermember havi g a pair of oppositely extending arms located b'\e tween thecasing part and the fastener-holding piece, a. ller member locatedbetween the fastener-holding piece and the casing part and cut out toreceive and closely t said arms, a folded portion extending from saidarms through an aper- .ture in the fastener-holding piece and presentingshoulders spaced from the bottom of said fastener-holding piece for thepurposes described.

CHARLES L. HALL.

